The Irish princess, Iseult of Ireland was the daughter of King Anguish of Ireland and Queen Iseult the Elder. Iseult is first seen as a young princess who heals Tristan from wounds he received fighting her uncle, Morholt. When his identity is revealed, Tristan flees back to his own land. Later, Tristan returns to Ireland to gain Iseult's hand in marriage for his uncle, King Mark of Cornwall. She is betrothed to an evil steward who claims to have killed a dragon, but when Tristan proves he killed the dragon Iseult's parents agree to marry her to Mark.
But, during their journey to Cornwall, Iseult fell in love with Tristan. No, she was made to fall in love. It was a love made to be by means of a potion; unknown to either of them. Still, this love would be one to which the both of them would devote the rest of their lives.
Iseult married Mark, but still loved Tristan, and their days passed by in the court of Cornwall. Before long, thanks to the admonition of King Mark's courtiers who envied Tristan, he was inevitably forced to leave the royal court, leaving Iseult to long for her lover.
Afterwards, Tristan served under King Arthur as a Knight of the Round Table, performing numerous deeds and feats. There, he had friends; he had a king worthy for him to serve. Yet there was nobody he could love there; Tristan had been warned that the burning love inside him was due to the fault of the aphrosidiac, but he fully understood that such a drug had already long past its effectiveness. He then came to marry a woman who had the same name of Iseult by coincidence, but still, his feelings for the past Iseult only grew stronger.
Many times the two passed each other, yearning to be together. Iseult had to act insensitive towards Tristan, fearing that open passion would invite punishment on Tristan, despite the love that her husband, King Mark, held for him.
Eventually, Tristan had collapsed due to being poisoned in a certain battle and, on the verge of death, he wished to once more be able to meet with Iseult. Informed of Tristan’s plight by a messenger, Iseult too left behind her position under King Mark as his wife, hoping to reach him before it was too late.
"
A white sail if she comes. A black sail if she does not——"
Upon seeing the boat carrying Iseult, the other Iseult who was Tristan's wife, Iseult of the White Hands, whispered the following to Tristan as he waited for the ship. "A boat with black sails is coming this way." The tale of Tristan was put to an end by means of a
, uttered towards the husband who, despite taking a wife, had never tried to love her. Tristan accepted those words so that he could atone for what he had done to his wife.
Iseult was reunited with Tristan; yet by then, it was too late. Iseult, who didn't make it in time, kissed Tristan as her tears fell over. She had not been afraid of touching him, who had been poisoned to death, nor had she been afraid of dying herself. Iseult the Fair, too, died that day. Iseult of the White Hands, perhaps feeling shame over her lie and pity towards the lovers, instructed for them to be buried together. It is said that a thick bramble grew from Iseult’s grave, and a rose from that of Tristan, the plants entwining despite the attempts of men to cut them down or tear them apart. Together, at the last, they lay entwined.
Originally Posted by Kabalisto Koga
